Mixed beverages are well-known throughout the food industry. In particular, so-called ‘smoothies’—generally including a blended mixture of one or more of water, juice, ice, ice cream, frozen yogurt, fruits or supplements—represent an approximately $2 billion market in the United States alone.
Some people enjoy smoothies because they can be a nutritional alternative to less-healthy choices such as shakes and sodas. Smoothies can be created from any desired ingredients; however, they are generally served as a cold, blended product, usually containing fresh fruits and other healthy foods. Out of convenience, consumers may be more motivated to purchase a smoothie from a vendor than purchase a blender, store ingredients in their kitchens, and go through the process of making a smoothie themselves. This approach, however, has its drawbacks in that store-bought smoothies can be expensive and requires persons to travel to a vendor or franchise.
Thus, a need exists for a system capable of storing smoothie ingredients in a cold environment to keep ingredients fresh, which also provides automated blending of selected ingredients according to one or more stored recipes, and a dispenser system that, in cooperation provides consumers the ability to formulate smoothies conveniently at home at a time of their choosing.